The Sun

The Sun or Sol, is the star at the centre of our solar system and is responsible for the Earth’s climate and weather. The
Sun is an almost perfect sphere with a difference of just 10km in diameter between the poles and the equator. The
average radius of the Sun is 695,508 km (109.2 x that of the Earth) of which 20–25% is the core.

Star Profile

Age: 4.6 Billion Years

Type: Yellow Dwarf (G2V)
Diameter: 1,392,684 km
Circumference at Equator: 4,370,005.6 km
Mass: 1,989,100,000,000,000,000,000 billion kg (333,060 x Earth)
Surface Temperature: 5500 °C
Size of the Sun

Facts about the Sun

One million Earths could fit inside the Sun:

If a hollow Sun was filled up with spherical Earths then around 960,000 would fit inside. On the other hand if these
Earths were squished inside with no wasted space then around 1,300,000 would fit inside. The Sun’s surface area is
11,990 times that of the Earth’s.

Eventually, the Sun will consume the Earth:

When all the Hydrogen has been burned, the Sun will continue for about 130 million more years, burning Helium,
during which time it will expand to the point that it will engulf Mercury and Venus and the Earth. At this stage it will
have become a red giant

The Sun will one day be about the size of Earth:

After its red giant phase, the Sun will collapse, retaining its enormous mass, but containing the approximate volume of
our planet. When this happens, it will be called a white dwarf.

The Sun contains 99.86% of the mass in the Solar System:

The mass of the Sun is approximately 330,000 times greater than that of Earth. It is almost three quarters Hydrogen,
whilst most of the remaining mass is Helium.

Light from the Sun takes eight minutes to reach Earth:

With a mean average distance of 150 million kilometres from Earth and with light travelling at 300,000 kilometres per
second, dividing one by the other gives us an approximate time of 500 seconds, or eight minutes and 20 seconds.
Although this energy reaches Earth in a few minutes, it will already have taken millions of years to travel from the
Sun’s core to its surface.

The Sun travels at 220 kilometres per second:

The Sun is 24,000-26,000 light years from the galactic centre and it takes the Sun 225-250 million years to complete an
orbit of the centre of the Milky Way.

The Sun has a very strong magnetic field:

Solar flares occur when magnetic energy is released by the Sun during magnetic storms, which we see as sunspots. In
sunspots, the magnetic lines are twisted and they spin, much like a tornado would on Earth.